Saranac Black & TanMatt Brewing Company / Saranac Brewery

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The neck ring on the 12oz bottle bills this as "a judicious melding of our classic Irish Stout with an all-malt German-style amber lager".

Well whatever it is, it pours dark and bubbly with a huge 4-5" tan head that sticks around for a while. Sipping through the foam, I'm treated to a medley of rich dark roasted malt, caramel, subtle notes of pine, and a buttery smooth texture. Mouthfeel is fairly creamy with good carbonation and alcohol presence. The head lingers quite a while and leaves attractive lacing on the glass. This is a good hearty beer, but if it were more intense (i.e. had more heartiness and a bit more alcohol), it would be excellent. Highly drinkable.

Brown/black appearance, thin head that dissapates quickly to a thin out ring. Nice caramel malt aroma and the taste of this beer has a nice rich malty flavor. A hop bitterness hits the back of the throat. Solid medium body with good carbonation.

Pours a dark amber/ruby in color with a nice 1/2" khaki-colored head. Subtly sweet, creamy coffee notes in the aroma & flavor. Sweetness is then taken over by a nice roasty bitterness. The roasty coffee character lasts long into the aftertaste. A nice brew. Very simple, yet still pretty good. Nice light carbonation, very smooth and drinkable.

Neither black nor tan, this beer is instead a deep ruby with lighter cherry highlights (not sure I would have noticed this if I wasn't outside on my front porch). Nice retention from the light tan head. Scattered drippy lacing.

Bitter black malt up front gives way to a fairly substantial bitterness midswallow. Body is definitely on the thicker side of medium. It really fluffs up with carbonation at the swallow, followed by a lengthy dry roasted finish. The gentler cocoa and caramel from the nose is there, but you have to go looking for it a bit. Holding things back a bit are a metallic flavor and a touch of the cardboard/paper quality that seems to be a staple of Saranac beers.

One of the better B & T's I have tried. Smooth, but still a little bite. Pours a rich brown color with just the right amount of head. You can down a few of these quick!! I sure did. This is by far better than Yuengling Black and Tan, but a bit more pricey.

Poured this into a pint glass and got a dark, black body with a tan top. There definitely were hints of some chocolate and caramel in the smell, but because of the lager influence it was rather limited. Overall though the beer offers a nice balance of body with a stout-like taste. I would recommend this to those people looking for a stout, but not wanting to be overwhelmed by taste or those looking for a little more than just a lager.

This pours out a beautiful dark cola brown with a very creamy light fluffy head. It smells very stout-like. Huge roasted malty nose, grassy like raw almond hits me as soon as I open the bottle. It also has a clever hop that seems to balance it out very well. Very Very stout like. The beer is a bit thinner tasting than a stout. It is extra malty with the nice roasted flavors to kick it up at the end. The roast reminds me most of coffee. The malt is sweet and estery. The beer has a typical mouthfeel. A bit astringent and a little over drying. Just nothing exciting. Drinkability is okay. I mean it is a nice beer and easily drank, it loses points only in the ability to keep the senses entertained through an entire session.

This is a deep brown (SRM: 25+?) ale with a thin, olive-tan head that quickly vanishes. It smells of dark malt, herbal hops and coffee. Pretty straight forward, actually. It's a medium-body ale/lager-- is lightly bitter with a smooth finish. A local standby, I would put this between a Southern English Brown, a Porter, and an American (West Coast) Amber.
(rated Feb 4, 2007)

Poured into a shaker a very dark red-brown with crimson highlights throughout. 3 fingers of foamy, lumpy head that leaves heavy lacing.

Smell is so nice! Getting moderately sweet, roasty smells that meet & meld brilliantly with crisp, tartly fruity hops. So well balanced, I keep going back for more. Both rich & refreshing at the same time.

Taste, again, is a very good mingling of stout & amber alger characteristics: roasty, creamy caramel, & chocolate cookie at first, mixed with more biscuity malts & some crisp, fruity, slightly flinty/dry hops. Ends bitter with building coffee-like notes in the aftertaste.

Feels full, creamy, foamy while also refreshing & cleansing all at the same time.

I didn't expect a lot going into it, but I was really impressed by this little beer! Very complex for a sessionable beer, & coming from a combination of two pretty different styles, creates a marriage of the best parts of each. A beer that compliments itself wonderfully.

not a bad beer, just not outstanding. started out pretty well, nice mix of malt and lager taste, but got too much toward the lager in the end.
dark, but not opaque, black with red around the edges. some head, but not much. smells of lager for the most part, a bit of roasted malt, similar to a oktoberfest.
malt was strong to start, but the lager flavor took over very soon, and was dominant in the end. still, not terrible, but i've had better black & tans.

A - The one finger head dissipates rather quickly leaving dots of lacing on the glass and scattered large bubbles on the surface of the dark brown brew.

S - Slightly sweet coffee odor with a bit of caramel and butterscotch. It is a decent odor. The stale grain odor I've smelled in almost all of the Saranac beers is not present.

T - Powerful coffee and chicory immediately. Some faint sweetness is detectable. This is not a bad flavor. Very malty. I can taste the lighter beer's malt flavor after some effort. The aftertaste is faintly bitter, it is a nice finish.

M - Extremely thin, it is quite refreshing, but some thickness to the beer would be nice.

D - This is a brew that is very easy to drink. Quite enjoyable. It isn't quite a lawn mower beer, maybe it would make a nice snow blower beer.